Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Violence in Rio

A gunbattle between cops and dealers claimed five lives in a Zona Norte favela. Among the dead, a 15-year-old. Police said they recovered a grenade, other weapons, and drugs, according to this Reuters dispatch in The New Zealand Herald. The report notes that human rights groups (and some favela residents) "accuse police of excessive violence and summary executions of unarmed suspects, who are later registered as criminals offering resistance." As one city official told me when I was in Rio, he'd rather work with the drug traffickers because they are more honest and honorable than the cops.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert,

I recently read your interview with rediff.com. I am a writer with "Indian Architect and Builder" magazine and would like to invite you to contribute to our magazine. This times issue is about "directions in design" and I was wondering if you would be interested in writing an opinion piece on what you think the future city will be like. I am sure you have more ideas about the topic of the article. Please email me at varun_ajani (at) jasubhai (dot) com. I hope you do repond

Anonymous said...

* respond